Subjugate or Exterminate! A Memoir of Russia's Wars in Chechnya by Akhmed Zakaev, and: Russia, Chechnya, and the West, 2000–2006 by Akhmed Zakaev

Abstract

Reviewed by: Subjugate or Exterminate! A Memoir of Russia's Wars in Chechnya by Akhmed Zakaev, and: Russia, Chechnya, and the West, 2000–2006 by Akhmed Zakaev John Russell Zakaev, Akhmed. Subjugate or Exterminate! A Memoir of Russia's Wars in Chechnya. Translated by Arch Tait. Academica Press, Washington, D.C. and London, 2018. xiv + 436 pp. Map. Illustrations. $34.95 (paperback). Zakaev, Akhmed. Russia, Chechnya, and the West, 2000–2006. Translated by Arch Tait. Academica Press, Washington, D.C. and London, 2022. xxiii + 588 pp. Illustrations. Appendix. Index. $59.95. Ichkeria — the name of the independent Chechen state of which Akhmed Zakaev is Prime Minister in exile, was mostly forgotten in the political lexicon until the summer of 2022. Then, following a brief visit by Zakaev to Kyiv, the Ukrainian parliament began a process of recognition of the state as an entity distinct from Russia (previously such recognition had been forthcoming only from the Taliban in Afghanistan after the first Russo-Chechen war). Despite drawing obvious parallels between the Russian assaults on Chechnya (1994–96 and 1999–2009) and Ukraine (from 24 February 2022), the shallow level of understanding amongst some Ukrainians of the history of Chechen resistance was laid bare in a gloss on a tweet in October 2022. For, when Oleksiy Danilov, the Secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council tweeted that 'Chechens are worthy descendants of the fighters for Independence — from Shamil to Dudayev', the Shamil that he was referring to was the nineteenth-century Imam, an Avar, not, as The New Voice of Ukraine website reported, the Chechen field commander, Shamil Basaev. The latter, until his death in July 2006, was known as Russia's 'terrorist No. 1', after the tragic outcomes of successive sieges at a Moscow theatre in 2002 (Russia, [End Page 789] Chechnya, and the West, chapter 9, pp. 83–99) and the school in Beslan in 2004 (ibid., chapter 19, pp. 319–47). Even a cursory reading of Zakaev's two weighty volumes might have prevented the occurrence of such an embarrassing error. Although no doubt encouraged by the re-emergence on the world stage of the concept of an independent Ichkeria, how Zakaev must resent the fact that such Western support for his cause has come decades too late. For, in the critical period between 1996 and 2004, which straddles these volumes, Vladimir Putin's Russia was treated as a stalwart ally of the West, particularly by the UK and USA, in its 'global war on terror', and Chechnya, represented most visibly by the 'terrorist' Shamil Basaev, was perceived as being very much on the wrong side. At the invitation of Lord Judd, I chaired the Chechen documentary film festival, at which Zakaev spoke (ibid., pp. 164–67). Held in June 2003 at the ICA, The Mall was bedecked with Union Jacks and Russian flags for Putin's official state visit. Zakaev castigates the then British prime minister, stating that 'I have no doubt that it was largely through the efforts of Tony Blair that Western politicians came to accept Putin and started closing their eyes to the war crimes in Chechnya' (p. 166). UK state papers released in December 2022 appear to lend some support to this claim, although I am sure Blair would point to his overriding objective of drawing Russia into the family of democratic nations. Some observers might claim that the beginning of the end of this 'marriage of convenience' was the trial and acquittal of Zakaev by a court in London in 2003 on charges of terrorism, brought by Russia, (covered in chapters 11–13, pp. 143–228). As a participant in this trial, these chapters were of especial interest, but, unfortunately, I am confused in Zakaev's account (p. 168) with the late Lord Russell-Johnston, chair of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, explaining, perhaps, why Zakaev in subsequent meetings always referred to me as a pravozashchitnik (human rights' activist), rather than as an academic. In fairness to Zakaev, his grasp of English names at this juncture must have been akin to the unfamiliarity amongst British readers with the multitude of challenging Chechen names presented in these books...